Foothill’s football team was unable to slow down a high-flying San Clemente squad Friday night, falling to the Tritons, 56-6, in the second round of the CIF Southwest Division playoffs at Tustin.

San Clemente quarterback Sam Darnold was on target from the start.

Darnold threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter and five in the game.

Darnold passed for 286 yards and rushed for 93 yards and one touchdown to help the Tritons move into the semifinals for the first time since 2011. San Clemente (11-1) will face Sea View League rival Capistrano Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday at San Clemente.

“They played a very good football game and they’re a very good football team,” said Foothill coach Doug Case. “We knew we were going to have to play our best to compete here tonight. We had glimpses of greatness and then we made some mistakes.

“You can’t do that in the quarterfinals. But we still had some great efforts by a lot of our kids and I was proud of our seniors for a great season. We’re going to miss them, but we have a lot of youngsters who are going to step up and carry on the tradition of Foothill football next year.”

Darnold hooked up with Cole Fotheringham on touchdown passes of 20 and 21 yards in the first quarter to help the Tritons take command. “It was just a great team win,” said Darnold, who has committed to USC. “We really came out with a good game plan. Give it up to Foothill; they put up a good fight. It was good to play against them, and we’re on to the semifinals against Capo Valley.

Foothill (8-4) cut the lead to 14-3 on a 24-yard field goal by Evan Mickelson early in the second quarter.

But on the next drive, Darnold connected with Jacob Russell on an 81-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-3. Foothill trimmed the lead to 21-6 on Mickelson’s 28-yard field goal later in the second quarter. But the Tritons regained control on a 4-yard touchdown run by Brandon Reaves late in the first half.

San Clemente put the game out of reach in the third quarter when Darnold hit Reaves on a 5-yard touchdown pass and Jack Sears on a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 42-6.

Jared Copeland led Foothill, rushing for 50 yards on 13 carries.

Despite the loss, Case likes the Knights’ outlook for the future. “We started out and made a lot of mistakes. We were 1-2 after the first three preseason games,” Case said. “We were trying to put the puzzle together and we started hitting our stride. The kids learned their assignments, and we had some good leadership, and the juniors stepped up, and overall it was a pretty good year.

“With all the experience the young kids got, I’m expecting us to be right there next year. The program is in great shape. We had over 150 kids in the program and all three levels did well this year.”

Tim Burt first joined the Irvine World News in May of 1984 covering high school and youth sports in the city of Irvine. Since then, he has covered some of the most exciting high school sports events in Orange County. Tim's job includes reporting on sports in Irvine and Tustin and other communities for the Orange County Register and OC Varsity. He found his passion of journalism in high school at Long Beach Wilson on the school newspaper, the Loudspeaker. He later got his bachelor's degree in journalism from Long Beach State. Tim was honored in 2016 by the City of Irvine when he was named to the Wall of Recognition. In addition, the Pacific Coast League named the baseball championship trophy in his honor. In his off hours, Tim enjoys watching college and professional sports with friends and playing softball on the city of Irvine coed softball team, the Misprnts, founded by former Irvine World News editor Don Dennis. Tim has lived in Orange County for more than 30 years.